The present invention relates generally to image processing. More particularly, the present invention relates to selection of regions within an image.
It is often the case that a person wishes to highlight a region of an image for their later recollection, to bring the region to the awareness of another person, or the like. For example, two geographically-separated engineers use a teleconferencing system to discuss components in a circuit diagram, and highlight each component as it is discussed to avoid confusion. As another example, a quality-assurance technician notices that a button in an application under test is not working properly, and highlights the button in a screen capture submitted with her problem report. As yet another example, a photographer viewing a photograph on his computer highlights an object in the background as a reminder to remove that object from the final image.
There are many possible methods for drawing visual attention to a portion of an image. For example, the image may be cropped to the significant portion. Or, a variety of drawing tools might be used to surround the significant region with the outline of a shape such as a rectangle or ellipse, or to add arrows or other markers on top of the image. Animation effects can be used to cause an important region to flash, to glow, or to have a moving border. The non-significant portions of an image might be darkened, blurred, or otherwise transformed. Yet another method is to add a callout to the image that shows a magnified view of the significant portion. Other highlighting methods are of course possible.
Many of these methods share common problems. For example, a user who does not carefully select the bounds of the highlighted region will often highlight too much or too little, requiring extra attention to correct the selection or communicate the correct selection to another person. None of these methods make use of the information contained in the image itself, which can be a photograph, a diagram, or a blank canvas. If a user wishes to highlight multiple significant regions, extra effort may be required to change the color, shape, or style of subsequent region selections.